Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt

Thanks to Adam for putting me onto this… a beautiful quote from the tombstone of Billy Pilgrim, a fictional character from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’, describing his final reflections on his very eventful life.

It reminds that though life often seems hard and unfair, life itself is still a miracle.. and therefore it is extremely beautiful.

I always saw this as being deeply, hilariously, tragically sarcastic. I mean taking this literally… it dismisses the rest of the book in a way. Life appears to be many things, and one of the major themes of the book is the ignorance of the human race. Romanticizing war, idealizing domestic life, dismissing mental illnesses. That is just my opinion of course, and the quote is beautiful all the same. I want it written on my tombstone! :)